Apple to Launch Revamped Apple ID Website That Lets Users Download All Their Data

[IRL]

Only Apple can do this. 😉

Seriously though, You think any of the others are going to be doing this anytime soon?

Apple have to do this. So does every other company that trades in the EU. It is called GDPR. And it’s coming in May.

Credit goes to the EU not to Apple.

 

[testcard]

But still no way to merge multiple IDs, something Tim promised back in the early days of the internet.

 

[bevsb2]

It's not Apple I'm worried about. It's Google and Facebook that scare me. I've never been on Facebook, but I have texted or e-mailed friends that are and it sounds like they can get your information that way.

 

[Stella]

Only Apple can do this. 😉

Seriously though, You think any of the others are going to be doing this anytime soon?

They will have to, if they want to offer services in the EU, or be fined, repeatedly.

 

[nevheatley3]

Would be great to merge accounts as well.

 

[Will.O.Bie]

Only Apple can do this. 😉

Seriously though, You think any of the others are going to be doing this anytime soon?

Not a chance! They wouldn't wanna lose their "data source" to sell to other companies. Having more control of what you want that's available and having control of what you want deleted or not stored offsite on a Amazon Web Services server empowers the user. This is definitely a big step towards transparency that they were vilified for. This is a great move by Apple.

 

[SPUY767]

Only Apple can do this. 😉

Seriously though, You think any of the others are going to be doing this anytime soon?

You mean, "Only Apple can do this without wrecking their business model."

 

[Marco Klobas]

Giving us the possibility to delete unused Apple ID is a welcomed news.

 

[DepModeFan]

Now if they would just let me merge my 2 accounts. Way back when the Apple ID first came about no one realized how important it would be and I can't even remember how it happened that I had to create 2 different ID's, with different purchase histories tied to each account. Let me merge them!

 

[Godzilla71]

Google has had this for years, about time Apple caught up. Maybe this will make it easier to escape the walled garden...

Google have had this for years. A single page where you can download everything they hold on you

https://takeout.google.com/

Other major sites either have the same thing or will have to develop it in response to the GDPR rules

They will have to, if they want to offer services in the EU, or be fined, repeatedly.

I stand corrected. Sorry I am not signed up in any google services. I honestly did not know. It was more a play on Tim's famous phrase I that was poking at. 🙂

 

[TheShadowKnows!]

...

The next step is an encryption key that only the user knows. If Apple truly supports privacy, then Apple will make the encryption key management transparent and effortless, without having the key stored on Apple servers.

Sorry, dude. But the mechanism in support of PKE is not what you suggest:

To ENCRYPT: the SENDER encrypts with the RECIPIENT's PUBLIC KEY.
To DECRYPT: the RECIPIENT decrypts with his/her PRIVATE KEY.

To SIGN: the ORiGINATOR signs by binding the protected content to his/her PRIVATE KEY.
To VERIFY: the RECIPIENT verifies the signed contents with the originator's PUBLIC KEY.

If you would encrypt with a PRIVATE KEY, as you suggest, anyone with access to your PUBLIC KEY would retrieve a clear message.

Apple must keep their private keys well protected; whereas their corresponding public keys are distributed to the end devices.

Maybe you have something else in mind; but from a first reading I think you got your PKE algebra wrong.

 

[peteo]

Wow- if this gets hacked, we're all doomed.

Hacked? I care more about governments that want access to this data. How is this file being generated? At the time of the request? its it encrypted? if apple can give this data to you, whats to stop them from giving it to some government.

 

[zorinlynx]

I wonder if this will provide a convenient way for non-Mac users to download their entire iCloud Photo Library.

Right now you need a Mac and Photos.app to do that, unless you want to sit there downloading one photo at a time for hours on icloud.com. It'd be nice if you could just pull down a giant archive of your entire library in one go.

 

[Stella]

You mean, "Only Apple can do this without wrecking their business model."

It wouldn't destroy anyone's business model - I guess your referencing Google, Facebook et al.

 

[dominiongamma]

Wish we could edit our iCloud email address I regret making making a bad email address 6-7 years ago

 

[trekkie604]

I assume all these big tech companies getting tools ready for people to see what information they hold on them is related to the EU GPDR?

 

[itsmilo]

Not a chance! They wouldn't wanna lose their "data source" to sell to other companies. Having more control of what you want that's available and having control of what you want deleted or not stored offsite on a Amazon Web Services server empowers the user. This is definitely a big step towards transparency that they were vilified for. This is a great move by Apple.

It’s mandatory for any company operating in the EU come may. My company for instance is just now losing their crap over it. Its not like it’s been known for the last 2 years ...

You are even supposed to be able to take your data from one service to another, not sure how that is going to work tho.

 

[northernbaldy]

Will we finally be able to merge our iTunes and iCloud accounts?

 

[stickyd8]

I love this.

I agree! Will users be able to select what data they want permanatly deleted? For instance, if I have an iMessage conversation I don't want kept, I should be able to delete that converstaion without deleting all of data and account.

 

[goodcow]

Seriously though, You think any of the others are going to be doing this anytime soon?

You've been able to download all of your facebook account data for years now.

 

[ApostolisApo]

--

 

[Godzilla71]

You've been able to download all of your facebook account data for years now.

I don’t use Facebook so I wouldn’t know. Again, it was more of sarcastic dig on Tim’s famous quote he uses all the time.

 

[Nozuka]

I really wish we could split our apple Id and iTunes services; I don't want one account for everything. I would want my icloud account including find my phone/mac to be locked down, but I don't need that level of security for iTunes purchases.

I actually have a separate apple ID from the time before iTunes took over everything, but there isn't anyway that I know of to use that anymore (separate from iTunes).

this works without any problems. have always done it like that.

 

[FreakinEurekan]

Although he bought a new iPhone, he found it impossible to access his previous account and icloud data because he couldn't remember his password and his trusted devices were not available.

I don't see this changing that situation. You're going to need to authenticate in order to download, there would be no point in setting it up any other way.

 

[fairuz]

It’s mandatory for any company operating in the EU come may. My company for instance is just now losing their crap over it. Its not like it’s been known for the last 2 years ...

You are even supposed to be able to take your data from one service to another, not sure how that is going to work tho.

Seems like a lot of extra work for no real benefit. Especially silly websites people just use for fun.